


Late Night Ramen

by BlueOranges



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Beaches, Brothers, Cooking, Daddy Issues, Death of a grandparent, Dissociation, Grumpy Old Men, Jealousy, Late at Night, Memories, Mommy Issues, Ramen, Repressed Memories, Yelling, Younger Brother, his dad is under the influence, how is that not a tag what, idk - Freeform, knife, late night cooking, mention of miscarriage, mom is kinda a bit over the top with trying to starve skull but hey it happens, reliving memories, salmonella, sorta - Freeform, uhh dont really know what else to tag, vent fic, yeet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24976099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueOranges/pseuds/BlueOranges
Summary: Skull gets memories from when he was younger while making ramen.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	1. 10 PM Ramen

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest I don't know why I chose Skull for this, but hey I did.

It’s 10 PM and Skull just wanted ramen. He passed his semi drunk mom who waved him goodnight. She was in a good mood, probably from the party earlier. He poured the ramen in the pot and put the lid over. 

Sober.

His mind wandered off and he went into autopilot as he stirred the stiff noodles. 

Ah. It found a new memory to torture him with.

He opened his eyes and he was no longer cooking ramen. He was three years into the past and it was sometime around the football super bowl. He felt a weight in his right hand and realized it was the blade he never left home without. His dad to his left, babbling on about something he barely remembered. He was scared.

“Would you stab that lady if she were to jump us?”

His head shot up. A homeless woman was riding her bike in the street. Skull remembered why he was scared. 

“Would you stab that lady if she were to jump us?”

Skull shook with each step he took.

“...yes.”

The lady was long gone after he said that. He really hoped she didn’t hear. She was just minding her business.

When the two arrived at the park Skull was doing everything to calm his nerves. His dad didn’t hurt him. His dad didn’t do anything. Nothing happens. He was going to be fine. He just had to get through this.

“You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

Skull gulped. His dad repeated the question.

“You are huh? It’s okay. I know.”

Skull was only scared because his dad was drunk. Even though he knew what was going to happen, it still scared him. 

They went around the block, and were walking down the river bed on the way back to the house when his dad said,

“You embarrassed me at the party. You didn’t eat anything. You just sat there and played on your dumb game. And when you ate, and told grandpa it tasted bad, I wanted to slap you across the face. I should have.”

Skull took a small breath. He was having eating problems, that’s a fact. His dad didn’t need to know that. It’s not like the slap would’ve hurt either. It’s happened before when Skull cut his tentacles. It didn’t faze him.

His dad talked on, finishing the water bottle. When a family cheered he yelled for them to shut up. Why? They owned a house and he and his dad didn’t. The water bottle was in the river bed now. 

When they reached the end of the path, his dad kept doing forward, heading towards the path next to the train tracks. Skull felt his stomach twist. 

His dad droned on, not aware Skull has dissociated from the conversation, imagining a happier time than fearing his father was. 

“Get your knife out.”

Skull was dragged out of his world within the memory and immediately flicked out the blade. A lovely blue shade shone in the light. It was a biker again, this time a male in his middle age, whitish grey hoodie, the color of the bike was either a navy or a black. The man pedaled faster. Skull’s dad signaled him to run with him. Eventually the man went away.

“He was going to jump us at the end you know. But he heard me tell you to pull out your knife and we jogged with him. He got scared.”

Skull nodded, focusing his breathing. He was terrified. This was just a memory yet it felt like he was back. Then his vision went black.

He felt something burn him and his eyes shot open. The water from the pot flew in little droplets onto his arm.

He took the pot off the stove and poured the noodles into a bowl. Skull opened the seasoning packets and poured them in before stirring the noodles around. Balancing the bowl in one hand and a cup of juice in the other, he made it back to his room.

He was safe. Nothing to fear. It was just him, and his 10 PM ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this out while I waited for my ramen to cool. 
> 
> My dad is a good dad, he's just... angy lol, this happened years ago anyways.
> 
> I summarized what happened, there's a bit more to this memory, but my ramen cooled.


	2. 11 PM Ramen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skull has another memory about the time his mom basically left him with no food. But he made due with what he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was going to make this a loooot longer because this was barely the beginning of what happened but uhhh my ramen finished cooking

Here he was again, except it was 11 pm. It was 11 pm and he was making ramen. 

When he went into the garage to get the supplies, he found cans of meat resting inside. Don’t ask why the sentences are starting to rhyme. 

He looked at the cans of chicken breast. His stomach twisted as he quickly grabbed the ramen packs and exited the garage. 

His mind drifted off to a memory not long ago, it wasn’t sad, he deserved it after all. Once again he went into autopilot and closed his eyes. To him he didn’t need to wonder where his memories would take him this time.

He was playing a game Mask had let him borrow. With a liter of soda at his side he sat on the living room couch with the control in hand. He was home alone when the ordeal began, he hadn’t eaten all day and he was waiting for his family to arrive.

In a vicious jerk of his body in frustration, he heard the thud and hiss of a certain liquid. Of course he immediately looked and leapt into action to help the bottle from leaking more. 

Too late it already sank through the carpet, to the floor. He panicked as the white carpet his mother purchase had turned brown. He rushed to get paper towels while frantically looking up tutorials. 

After a while he started to cry, who knows what shed do to him? Nevertheless, he grabbed his phone with a shaky hand and texted his mother. It took ten minutes of more scrubbing at the carpet before he got an answer. 

‘You’re dead.’

He choked back another sob, she was going to take the console Mask let him borrow away. He was sure of it. 

For three hours straight, he worked on the carpet, and finally it was no longer wet. Just a little stained. Skull acted fast, grabbing the console and disconnecting it before hiding it in his room. From there he went back to the living room, changing it to movies. It was October so the Halloween movies were on.

He sat shaking and crying, while watching Hocus Pocus.

Two hours went by. It was 11 o’clock. A coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

His stomach ached and he got up from his spot. There must be something. Surely there must. 

He looked in the fridge and the pantry. Nothing he knew how to make, and nothing he even thought could be made. There wasn’t even milk for cereal, and believe me, water and cereal don’t actually mix well. Neither does peanut butter and water. Don’t ask.

He moved stuff aside. Ah! Cans! He reached the back fairly easy, long limbs and all. He pulled a few out. Tuna! Oh cod he was sort of saved. He gathered what he needed, frankly he didn’t need much. Just mayo and a bowl. His saviors. At least... he thought that’s how his mom made it. Skull mashed the tuna and mayo together in the bowl (using a fork of course), he didn’t have corn or celery so it would have to do. 

He tasted it. Hmm... tasted like the same thing. As he looked around the kitchen in an aimless daze, his eye got on his rice squidling he had to “raise” for school. Oh cod he had never been so glad to see the damn thing. 

Yeah, in minutes he had made rice with the baby. Granted it took him a while since he had to follow the instructions. He wasn’t exactly good at reading... he also took things to literal.

He ate everything. He cleaned everything. He just hoped he’d stay alive threw the talk his mom was going to put him through.

1 am. She came back at 1 am. With step-dad and younger sister in tow. 

“You didn’t bring any food...?”

“You didn’t deserve it. Consider it a punishment.”

He gulped. What would have happened if the cans and rice wasn’t there...? Would he have starved the whole night? His body had just gotten used to eating thee meals a day, it wasn’t used to going a day without food. 

Oh well... like she said, he deserved.

And that last hours of no sun, he didn’t sleep. The rest of the hours were filled with pain and endless hours in the bathroom.

Skull’s eyes snapped open, he burned his fingers because he had grabbed the handles without napkins. 

“...fuck...”

Too much autopilot. 

He sighed. The food deprevation in the memory had stopped him from thinking straight.

He snickered. He was never straight haha.

Skull couldn’t remind himself it was just a memory and didn’t think rationally. He was still scared, but not as scared as the last time. Which is either good or bad. Bad because it would mean these experiences were normalized.

To be honest, to him they were normal. So the bad was already happening. 

He poured the flavor packets in. Draped his new blanket over his shoulders and took the bowl back with him to his room. No juice this time, he already had water in his room. Skull not drinking something with sugar in it? I know, surprising.

It was just him, and his 11 PM ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casually gets salmonella from canned tuna like a boss B)


	3. 12 PM and No Ramen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huh. It's 12 AM and Skull's not making ramen.

Skull stared out his window towards the moon, instead of his mom's house he was at his dad's. The lady had had enough of him and handed him off. The purple inkling was fine with it, he was the throw away child. He also wanted to get out anyways. Spending too long with his mom really drained him. 

Skull was supposed to be asleep, so why wasn't he? It was both a simple yet complicated answer. As he stared at the moon he held his pillow close to him, his imagination taking care of the rest. He softly rubbed the pillow in a comforting way, his eyes softly glazed over.

The smell of sea salt reached his nose, and his tentacles blew in the slight wind as the sound of shaking metal reached his ears. He glanced down and saw his younger brother giggling as he shook the parking sign, the damn thing was already loose which caught his attention. 

Skull's eyes widened. He remembered this. He remembered this too clearly. He needed to stop it before-

"HEY! STOP SHAKING THAT!"

The E-Liter main froze. Oh no. Skul's head looked up to find his dad charging the older adult who yelled at his brother. Cod, his brother was only three for crying out loud!

"THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO MY KID?!"

Skull saw his brother was about to go over to ask his dad why he was yelling and quickly pulled him back.

"C'mon bro, we gotta get back to the truck."

"Why is that man yelling at daddy?"

"Please Golden, the truck."

His younger brother stayed quiet and allowed Skull to take him to the passenger side of their father's truck where they were hidden. Skull replayed the words their father has told him countless times.

_"If I ever get arrested, call Mint. It's better than you two going to ******wood."_

Skull knew his father wouldn't get arrested, but he didn't know if his brain would twist this memory. He felt a tug at his shirt. 

"Yeah kiddo?"

Uh oh, he was using the nickname his father gave him. Curse this.

"I'm... I'm scared."

Skull heard a glass break in his mind. His body started to slightly shake. The two grown-ups going at each other's throats didn't exactly help either. It was his fault his brother was scared. If he only had distracted his brother from shaking that damn pole that old man wouldn't have yelled at him. Their dad wouldn't be keeping himself from almost knocking out the dude. His brother wouldn't be scared. It was his fault.

"Skull? Why are you crying?"

Crap. Skull quickly wiped the tears from his right eye. At least it wasn't bad that it got him to start crying out of both eyes. 

"Nothin' kiddo, just... worried is all."

Skull winced as his brother hugged him. This was... this was unexpected. Also the toothpick his brother was named after dug inches away from Skull's groin. Skull moved it and kneeled down to allow his brother to hug him properly. 

"Is dad going to kick his ass?"

Skull snorted quietly as his gently rubbed his brother's back. Something his great grandma on his mother's side did for him.

"No kid, he's not, and we don't say those words."

"Okay..."

They stayed like that for a while. His brother shoving his head into his torso to hide his face while the two men kept arguing. Skull sighed. He decided he wanted to manipulate the memory just a bit.

"Do you... do you want me to sing you a song?"

"Mhm."

Skull let out a small chuckle. He took a breath and tapped on his brother's back in a rhythm.

"Just as I was about to take my shoes, off of the rooftop there I see, a girl with braided hair there before me."

Skull closed his eyes, seeing himself in the void of his imagination. Sure this song was a bit grim to sing to a child, but his brother wouldn't know.

"Despite myself I go and scream, 'hey, don't do, it please'."

Skull didn't continue as the door to the van next to them opened. Skull didn't put his hand on his knife like he did when the event actually occurred. It was just a curious lady, who heard the yelling from inside her car. Looking back it was rather embarrassing that their dad and that old man were being so loud... okay that sounded weird-

"Are you two okay? What's with all the yelling?"

Skull gulped.

"My brother he uh.. was shaking that sign.. and the old man yelled at him and my dad heard and well... ya know... I took my brother here so he didn't have to see.."

Skull internally screamed. At least he didn't go mute involuntarily. The lady nodded.

The two watched for a while, well listened for Skull. His brother was busy messing with the design of Skull's shirt to remember the situation. Probably the only time Skull was sort of glad his brother was on the autism spectrum. Actually it probably wasn't even that. It doesn't matter, as long as the kid was distracted, Skull was good. 

"You're....good..."

Oh shoot the lady said something. 

"Can you uh repeat that, please?"

"I said, you're a good brother, taking care of your sibling like this."

"Oh, yeah, haha, I just don't want him to see any of this."

If Skull could just lessen the trauma this would cause his brother maybe his promise wasn't lost.

"Yeah... well it looks like your dad is coming back, take care you two."

Skull nodded and the lady closed the door before starting her engine and pulling out of her parking spot. The purple inkling sighed and closed his eyes.

Blinking, Skull looked down at the pillow. He noticed the wet spots on it and wiped his face. He had promised no harm would come to his brother, yet the moment his brother was born his promise was already broken. Skull set the pillow down before laying himself down. The purple inkling wasn't going to sleep, no, just wander to a certain cephalopod that had been on his mind as of late.

Too bad he couldn't make ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was about a year ago.
> 
> I want a good childhood for my brother, I don't want him to turn out like me... I really don't.


	4. 1 AM and No Ramen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 1 AM and Skull is crying and not eating ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been crying for more than an hour lol

He stared at his phone, his eyes puffy and his cheeks wet. It hurt. He kept trying to keep it in, watching the girl record her grandpa showing off the lights he had. He bit his bottom lip as he jerked forward a bit to silence the sobs that wanted to come out. It's been so many years... why now?

He closed his eyes, remembering the last day he had...

"NO!"

"Skull please, you have to say goodbye to him..."

"I-I can't! He- he-"

"I know he looks scary like this, but you have to..."

Skull clenched his mom's work blazer, hiding behind her as he buried his head in her side. He didn't want to see his great grandpa like this. Hell, even in this revisited memory he still didn't. 

His great grandpa looked so... so lifeless... his eyes and mouth opened, his breathing raspy. 

Skull ran out of the house and locked himself in the car. His mother just gave his great grandma a look... and she drove him home.

He didn't get to see his great grandpa alive after that day.

Skull let out a sob as he remembered how happy his grandpa used to get when he hugged him. Yet he couldn't. On the day he had gotten his last chance, he didn't.

"Selfish selfish selfish..."

The purple inkling was so tired. Watching as the girl was able to communicate with her grandpa made him jealous. So fucking jealous. She could talk and he'd understand, there was no language barrier, no nothing. All Skull had to do was say "I love you"... and he never did. To top it off, in some fucked up joke by the universe, his aunt had a miscarriage a short time after. 

"Mom?"

"Yes, Skull?"

"Do you think...the great zapfish took the baby away, so grandpa isn't alone in heaven...?"

Skull just stared. Stared at the ceiling. He was kind of hungry. He hadn't really eaten anything in the previous day. Too bad he was all out of ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can... hug your grandparents and tell them you love them... you never know when it's going to be your last time to tell them...
> 
> I'm scared... I don't know how much time I have left with my great grandma... and that's why I made her cookies Saturday... I think I'd fall apart when she dies...


End file.
